Essays by a former editor of the OED supplement. To be taken one at a time. Exciting fact: Joseph Priestley, among his many other accomplishments, wrote an important, and of course unconventional, English grammar book.

The author was for thirty years the editor of the Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, and writes about the language from a lexicographer's viewpoint -- which means it is about words, words, words. He talks about what makes a word worthy of inclusion in the OED, about American vs. British English, and about various other dictionaries and guides to usage. Very specialized, but fun for word mavens. ( )